The penultimate round of matches in the league phase of The Hundred season comes to an end on Monday evening when Birmingham Phoenix host their rivals Trent Rockets in a massive game for both sides at Edgbaston.
The Phoenix were overtaken on Sunday evening so begin the night in fourth spot but they can reclaim their top three position with a win here. The Rockets head to Edgbaston knowing they have to win to keep their season alive so this one is brilliantly poised.
Where to watch
The only place to watch this match live and in full is on the Sky Sports Cricket channel where the build-up begins at 6pm ahead of the first ball coming down at 6.30pm.
Birmingham Phoenix
The Birmingham Phoenix have put themselves in a wonderful position to be involved at the business end of the season. They have won four of their six matches to date and know that if they win the last two games they will finish in the top three. Both of those games are at home so they very much have their destiny in their own hands which at this stage of the season is exactly what a team wants. The good thing about the Phoenix is they look to be getting better by the game too.
I think it is fair to say that their batting struggled a little bit in the opening week of the tournament but the longer the competition has gone on and the England players have returned and their batting order has levelled out a bit, the better they have got. You have to get big runs at the top of the innings in this competition and Birmingham are suddenly doing that and with no real weakness in their bowling unit they are ideally placed to push on for a title tilt from here.
Trent Rockets
The 2022 champions Trent Rockets haven’t been able to get themselves right into the mix in terms of the top three but with two matches left in their regular season they know that if they can win four matches in succession from here on in then it will be them who regains the title. Their immediate issue is that they finish their regular season with two of the top four sides in opposition to them but if they can beat both it would set them up nicely for the playoffs.
The Rockets have lost three of their last four matches at exactly the wrong time so they need to find it within themselves to turn their form around quickly. The big issue they have is their bowling has been carted too often for comfort. Even when they looked to have the match won against the Southern Brave on Saturday, Kieron Pollard took Rashid Khan down and in an instant that was that. This bowling unit has to come to the party here to give the Rockets a chance.
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Key Players
Ben Duckett continued his fine form in the win over the Welsh Fire on Saturday evening and if he can get the Birmingham Phoenix off to a decent start here then you would imagine the rest will follow on a home ground they play very well.
Trent Rockets saw their match against Southern Brave turn on five Rashid Khan balls on Saturday and they could do with the Afghanistan genius to come to the party in this match not just with the ball but potentially with the bat too.
Betting
While I won’t make out that I’m not a little bit concerned that the Birmingham Phoenix middle order are suddenly lacking a bit of a gallop, I do still like them to win this match because their opening pair are in fantastic touch and the Trent Rockets new ball record hasn’t been fantastic in this tournament so Moeen Ali and Ben Duckett could get the Phoenix off to a flyer here. It will be interesting to see if Lewis Gregory is prepared to bowl Imad Wasim to two lefties in the powerplay and if he isn’t then the Rockets will have to change their approach here.
That certainly isn’t going to be the case for the Phoenix. If Adam Milne doesn’t get you then Tim Southee might well and if they don’t come up with the goods there are still Chris Wood and Sean Abbott to get through before the bowling eases up a little. The other thing I don’t like about the Rockets is they are a little too all-rounder heavy for my liking. Birmingham play Edgbaston pretty well and are in decent form and I think they’ll have a bit too much for their rivals here.
Tips
Back Birmingham Phoenix to beat Trent Rockets for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Betway
